Honolulu Zoo staff Wednesday were trying to lure back three exotic birds after they escaped earlier this week when vandals cut holes in their cages.

Tommy Higashino, acting zoo director, said the staff was using call birds — birds used to lure others — and food to bring back the birds.

Two of the birds, a male buff-headed ground dove and a red Eclectus female parrot, have been seen on the grounds of the 42-acre zoo in Waikiki.

Still unaccounted for was a gray tawny frogmouth.

Higashino said 24 bird cages were cut open between 6:30 p.m. Monday and 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.

"The screens were cut and pushed in to allow the birds to escape," he said. He valued the birds at $1,200.

"Whoever let them out thought it was a good idea, but it’s not really a good idea because they may eventually starve to death, not knowing what to eat," Higashino said. The birds get a specialized diet that includes vitamins, he said.

He said the staff hoped to see more activity around dusk Wednesday when two of the birds would have been looking for a place to roost for the night. He suspected all the birds remained at the zoo because it was a familiar place with similar bird species, and the staff were being careful not to chase them away.

On Tuesday, the parrot was seen in a coconut palm tree at the Waikiki Aquarium, but was back at the zoo Wednesday morning and spotted in a tree — too high for the staff to reach. The dove was also seen on the property, but the staff didn’t try to grab it because it’s fast and they didn’t want to harass it and chase it away.

They were using food and the bird’s mate to lure it. "Love might be stronger than freedom," Higashino said.

Staff suspect the missing gray tawny frogmouth remained at the zoo because the bird is not a strong flier, Higashino said. They put out crickets to attract the bird at night, when it usually feeds.

Higashino said the staff will not stop trying until they recover the birds.

Higashino said patches have been placed over the holes to prevent more birds from escaping, and it will cost $500 for permanent patches or $15,000 to $24,000 to replace all 24 screens.

Keoki Miyamoto, director of the city Department of Enterprise Services, said zoo officials are investigating whether the damage was caused by vandals or a disgruntled zoo employee.

A Honolulu Police Department spokeswoman said it had no suspects as of Wednesday afternoon.

Tawny frogmouths are found in the tropics in forested savannas and open woodlands of Australia, including the island of Tasmania. They "have enormous wide frog-like mouths, which they use to capture insects. The Tawny frogmouth’s call is a grunting ‘oom-oom-oom,’ which has a distinct nasal quality," said a fact sheet from the zoo.

"Eclectus parrots are found in Lesser Sunda Islands, Solomon Islands, New Guinea and northeast Australia. In the early 1980s they were found to be among the most common parrots in the Moluccan Islands.

"The brown ground dove is believed to be native to Asia."